India: From Jaipur to the Taj Mahal
After Jaipur, our next stop was Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
We started our day in our hotel palace, drinking pots of coffee served in proper fine china teacups and saucers and filling up on breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, potato cakes, and a rice curry. Bryan only had a few pieces of toast, still recuperating from yesterday’s Delhi Belly–but feeling much better.
Stepwells
After a few hours on the road, we pulled off to go see the Chand Baori stepwell and the artisan village of Abhaneri.
Khush told us that Chand Baori in Rajasthan, is one of the largest of hundreds of stepwells in Northern India. I had no idea what a stepwell was, so walking up on this gaping hole with steps to the bottom was shocking.
It is a deep open well–very deep, like 10 stories deep–with a pond of green water at the bottom. To access the water for drinking water and bathing, Indians take the terraced, switchbacked steps down, down, down. It is said that flooding on the slippery shores of India’s major rivers was tamed by the construction of ghats, which are long, narrow stairs and landings on the banks. This approach was used to build stepwells to collect precious water in a dry environment. Many of these old stepwells have fallen into disrepair, filled with trash or dirt. But this one survives, though no longer used for water supplies.
Bangles
Near the stepwell is the artisan village of Abhaneri. We watched a man work a colorful resin plastic over a thin wire circle, melting and turning it over a small fire until it became a bangle. It is said that it is inauspicious for a married woman to not have bracelets, and multiple bangles are better. Thank goodness for my Cambodian blessing strings and Death Valley ghost beads.
After watching the making of bangles, some of our group tried the pottery wheel at a neighboring shop. Mainly, we laughed. Making a symmetrical pot is not as easy as it looks!
Some of our group shopped for souvenirs. We got some Lay’s Spanish Tomato Tango chips and cokes and settled in for the final leg of the bus ride to Agra.
On the Road to Agra
Bus rides were story time. And now, Khush was going to tell us the love story behind the Taj Mahal.
Once upon a time, the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan fell in love with Mumtaz Mahal. He first saw her face when her veil blew up in the wind as she laughed at him. He was bargaining with her in the harem market, and paying a high price to buy a “diamond” of sugar anise cubes. Mumtaz captured the emperor’s heart. They married, she being his first wife (according to history records, she was third). And unlike other women of her day, she went everywhere with him. When she died giving birth to their 14th child, his heart was broken.
Shah Jahan mourned Mumtaz deeply. In 1631, he commissioned the Taj Mahal in her honor and for her tomb. It would be a tribute unlike anything else in the world. It is an exquisite, elegant, delicate, intricate, white-marble confection shining on the banks of the Yamuna River. Khush told us we were traveling on the very road from Jaipur where 1,500 elephants had trudged day and night for 22 years in the 1600s bringing the white marble to Agra for the Taj Mahal’s construction.
We arrived in Agra around 3:15 p.m. and checked into the Taj Heights hotel. After we freshened up, we were told to leave everything behind but our cameras and phones. We were going to the Taj Mahal!
The Taj Mahal
We took a bus to the gates. Khush gave us our tickets, and we waited in long lines—separated by men and women—to go through security. Finally, there it was! We could see the top of the magnificent dome as we approached the East Gate. WOW!–my heart raced, chills ran over my arms, and I smiled all over as I got my first look at the Taj Mahal.
Details
The 42-acre grounds are immaculate—clean and lush. There are monkeys living there. And there are crowds, and yet, it’s not really noticed. There’s too much to look at standing before the Taj Mahal.
The building sits on a platform between two other buildings, making large courtyards around the fringes. The foundation is mounted on wooden pillars to serve as shock absorbers in the event of an earthquake, and the four minarets lean slightly outward so that they would fall away from the main structure in a collapse.
There are 28 types of jewels set in the marble, including turquoise from Tibet and jade from China. The symmetrical mausoleum is graced with calligraphy poems, bas relief vines and flowers, reflective tiles, and marble lattice.
Visitors must put footies on over shoes when going into the tomb area. Inside the cool mausoleum, visitors must quickly circle the two faux tombs, placed under the massive dome and enclosed in a cool, smooth white marble screen. Mumtaz’s tomb is dead center beneath the dome. The only thing asymmetrical on the grounds is the tomb of her husband–Shah Jahan was placed beside her. No photos are allowed inside and that is enforced by guards who loudly ask for baksheesh from circling guests. The real tombs are beneath this floor as Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decoration of graves. So the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan were put directly beneath these faux tombs in a plain crypt with their faces turned towards Mecca.
Love and Peace
Everyone was in good spirits at the Taj Mahal. Many patiently took turns sitting on the “Lady Diana bench” for photos, and standing at the exact spot to get the perfectly symmetrical photo and reflection. Maybe it was from being around the extreme beauty, maybe it was from the good feelings of the love story, maybe it was the happiness and joy from seeing this amazing structure at least once in a lifetime–whatever it was, the feelings of love and peace were visible. People smiled at each other, helped each other take photos of their groups, and invited strangers into their photos.
It is said that grief-stricken Shah Jahan often sat on the banks of the Yamuna River, which runs behind the Taj Mahal, to watch during the 22 years of construction. A rumor circulated that he intended to build a matching black marble structure across from the Taj Mahal. As romantic as that is, nothing substantiates the story.
The Moods of Taj Mahal
I read somewhere that the Taj Mahal is rosy at dawn, pristine white at noon, sensuous in evening shadows, and has a ghostly etherealness under a full moon. We were here in the late afternoon, and stayed through sundown and golden hour.
One last look
We stayed as late as we could, watching the light change, the sun go down, and the full moon rise. I’d once read about a full-moon night tour of the Taj Mahal…and only then did I remember it. How I wished I could stay and walk the grounds at night…and at dawn, at noon, in the rain, maybe all day every day for a spell, maybe eternity. I turned for one last look. Carina and I got a spot—dead center in the alcove of the East Gate—and waited as people exited. We were the last to leave, finally driven out by guards linked in a solid line and piercing our ears with their loud whistles.
Thank you for reading
Select photos are available on Etsy.
Also, if you’ve been to India, please leave a comment about your favorite memories and places! I’m dying to go back and would love recommendations.
Finally, if you liked this post and would like to stay in touch, please…